Movie review: Doctor Strange’ kicks off another Marvel movie brew

Friday

Nov 4, 2016 at 12:01 AM

Ed Symkus More Content Now

Stan Lee makes his appearance as a passenger on a bus at around the 85-minute mark, and there are two scenes in the end credits section to hang around for, as well as, during those end credits, a warning about texting while driving. OK, got all that stuff out of the way. Doctor Strange hovers somewhere between the “A” and “B” list of characters in the Marvel Universe. His story is similar to that of Iron Man. That Marvel guy started off as Tony Stark, a brilliant, successful, snarky, full-of-himself head of a weapons company, who became superhero Iron Man after an accident almost killed him. Doctor Strange’s name is so cool, he didn’t have to change it after he, Dr. Stephen Strange, a brilliant, successful, snarky, full-of-himself neurosurgeon, suffers severe nerve damage on both hands while driving too fast, at night, in the rain, on a winding road, while listening to Pink Floyd and texting (hence that end credits business), then becomes superhero Doctor Strange. Because all Marvel superheroes have to go through a period of suffering, frustration, and angst, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) has his fair share of all three, even with the apparent love of his life, Dr. Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams), trying to help him through his career-ending ordeal. Of course, he does find a narrow path that might lead to personal salvation, or at least to the healing of his almost useless hands. But before all of that is addressed, even before his accident, the film introduces a character – the powerful and evil Master Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelson) – and a series of situations – the theft of pages from a magic book, a decapitation, gravity going wild – that you just know are going to be connected to the good doctor later on. Back to that path, which takes the desperate doctor to Nepal and the secret community of Kamar-Taj, reigned over by the enigmatic and powerful teacher known as The Ancient One (a bald Tilda Swinton). Doctor Strange who, much to his consternation upon arrival in this mysterious place, will only be addressed as Mister Strange, is advised to “forget everything you think you know,” then introduced to the calm and wise teacher. But he doesn’t cotton to her mindset of you must “heal the spirit to heal the body.” It takes her mind-blowing feat of pushing his astral form out of his physical form to convince him that she’s the real thing. That also signals the beginning of the film’s flurry of very cool visual effects, some of which are played for humor, as when the doctor’s astral form pays a visit to a hospital operating room, while others are there just to dazzle, as when the doctor is sent on his first ultra-psychedelic voyage by The Ancient One. Unlike most of the Marvel Comics movies, which feature all sorts of science in their stories, this one is filled with magic, ranging from spells and rituals in a Book of Time, to the conjuring of fiery gateways and the existence of the Cloak of Levitation. Yes, this might sound a bit Harry Potterish, but it all takes place on a more mature and much weirder level of storytelling. There are some serious moments where our hero learns about London, New York City, and Hong Kong being sanctums that protect the world, and that sorcerers (he’s training to be a sorcerer) protect the sanctums from powers within the Dark Dimension. There’s something to the effect of a rest period, when hero and villain get together for a quiet chat about “a world beyond time.” But those bits always lead up to outbursts of action, most of which are exciting, though some of the big city sequences are too mechanical, and take visual effects pages from the books of “Inception” and “Dark City.” But Benedict Cumberbatch holds it all together in the title role. He has the right look and temperament for the character, and a great American accent, to boot. No exact release dates are set yet, but you can be sure that this is the start of yet another Marvel movie series.— Ed Symkus write about movies for More Content Now.